John Olaf Roning (December 2, 1910 – October 3, 2001) was an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

player, coach, and athletics administrator. After he played

end End, END, Ending, or ENDS may refer to: End Mathematics *End (category theory) * End (topology) * End (graph theory) * End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) * End (endomorphism) Sports and games *End (gridiron football) *End, a division ...

at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

from 1932 to 1934, Roning entered the coaching ranks. After a few years coaching in the high school ranks, Roning became the head football coach at

Gustavus Adolphus College Gustavus Adolphus College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in St. Peter, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1862 by Swedish Americans led by Eric Norelius and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Gustavu ...

in 1939. He left in 1942 to return to Minnesota as an assistant and then was at North Carolina Pre-Flight. In 1951, Roning became the head football coach at Utah Agricultural College—now known as

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public university, public land grant colleges, land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal ...

—in Logan for four seasons and then at the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1864, it has an enrollment of approximately 5,700 undergraduate students and 7,200 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: D ...

. He was the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

at the

University of South Dakota The University of South Dakota (USD) is a public research university in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States. Established by the Dakota Territory legislature in 1862, 27 years before the establishment of the state of South Dakota, USD is t ...

from 1961 to 1971 and the second commissioner of the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I with college football, football competing in the Football Cha ...

Early life and career

Roning was an

for

Bernie Bierman Bernard W. Bierman (March 11, 1894 – March 7, 1977) was an American college football coach best known for his years as head coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers football program. Between 1934-41, his Minnesota teams won five national champio ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

from the 1932 through the 1934 seasons. He started at end during their 1934 national championship season. In 1939, Roning took over at

where he served as athletic director, football, basketball and track coach. During his tenure as football head coach, Roning led the Gusties to an overall record of 17 wins, five losses and one tie (17–5–1). He led the Gusties to the 1940

Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC ) is an List of NCAA conferences, intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division III, Division III. All 13 of the mem ...

(MIAC) championship; however, the school was suspended from the MIAC for the 1941 season for its perceived "overemphasis" on collegiate athletics. From Adolphus, Roning served as an assistant coach at Minnesota, with North Carolina Pre-Flight and again at Minnesota before he became head coach at Utah Agricultural.

Utah Agricultural and Denver

Roning was hired at Utah Agricultural in January 1951 to replace George Melinkovich. During his four-year tenure as head coach of the Aggies, Roning had an overall record of 18 wins, 21 losses and two ties (18–21–2). In February 1955, he became the head coach of the

Denver Pioneers The Denver Pioneers are the sports teams of the University of Denver (DU). They play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, and have amassed 35 NCAA titles as of 2024, which is in the top 15 among all schools (24 in S ...

. During his six seasons there, Roning had a 27–13 overall record. After the 1960 season, the university decided to drop football due to the costs of operating the program.

Later life

After the closure of the Denver football program, Roning accepted the position of

at the

in Vermillion in 1961. He remained at South Dakota until 1971, when he followed

Jack Friel John Bryan Friel (August 26, 1898 – December 12, 1995) was an American college basketball coach, the head coach of the Washington State Cougars for 30 seasons, from 1928 He holds the school record for victories by a men's basketball coach wi ...

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

of the

; he served until June 1977, succeeded by

Steve Belko Stephen Maxmillian Belko (February 14, 1916 – May 12, 2000) was an American college basketball coach at Idaho State College and the University of Oregon. He was later the third commissioner of the Big Sky Conference. Playing career The son of ...

. Roning retired to

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, where he resided until his death at age 90 on October 3, 2001.

Head coaching record

References

External links

University of South Dakota Athletics Hall of Fame
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Roning, John 1910 births 2001 deaths American football ends Big Sky Conference commissioners Denver Pioneers football coaches Gustavus Adolphus Golden Gusties athletic directors Gustavus Adolphus Golden Gusties football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football players North Carolina Pre-Flight Cloudbusters football coaches South Dakota Coyotes athletic directors Utah State Aggies football coaches High school football coaches in Minnesota People from Red Wing, Minnesota Players of American football from Minnesota